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Natural Highs – Are They Really Possible to Achieve?

Natural highs are often spoken of as a user friendly way of feeling good all the time. In essence they are meant to help a person achieve a feeling of elation that brings you into the present moment. A sense of “now” that only allows for what is happening in the present moment to matter most.

In addition to that, they create a stimulus to the body that leads to the release of naturally occurring, feel good “drugs” made by the body itself. Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins are your own naturally occurring happy drugs that your body uses to make you feel good. Essentially they are your body’s reward system for doing good things to it.

A Reward System That Keeps You Coming Back

Whenever you do something that stimulates your body’s reward system, you get a feeling of general well-being, being more energised and seeing life with a positive outlook. This is generally the case with most of addictions we have and it’s the reason why we keep going back to them. Fortunately, natural highs often have beneficial consequences and leave you feeling good.

Most of the drugs we take, (prescribed or not) act in such a way that they mimic some or even all the effects of the 4 aforementioned happy drugs created by the body. The receptors that are normally reserved for them get overrun by foreign substances that are mostly synthetic and often quite harmful to your body.

Old Habits Die Hard

Constant depletion of serotonin can cause the brain to stop producing it over time and flooding your dopamine receptors with synthetics can lead to an inability to produce dopamine. Either way, the end result is still the same. Your body gets robbed of the things it needs in order to sustain a happy and healthy way of living.

Even when you switch to a natural high, the effects aren’t the same. Your body is unable to respond to the stimulus the way it normally would. That is why it takes a while for people who are in recovery, and they often give up on them because they are not getting the desired effects.

The good news is that once you allow your body to work towards restoring its normal balance, you will start to feel the effects of those natural highs more effectively. New receptors will form and allow your body to take up more dopamine and serotonin. Making a few simple changes to your daily food intake will also allow your body to produce them more effectively.

Obtaining Natural Highs Gets Easier

Trying new things and getting out more, works wonders for obtaining natural highs. Especially when you get to try new foods or do some outdoor activity that gets the heart rate pumping. Even a change of scenery once in a while is enough to get the brain juices flowing again.

Many of these activities have been proven to stimulate the production and release of all the things your body needs to keep you feeling happy and feeling naturally high.